Draft appliance for railway-cars.



No. 672,l|4. Patented Apr. 16, mm. a. wesrmeuousa.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

(Application filed Aug. 1, 1900.)

(No Model.)

' UNITED STATES GEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, OF

PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed August 1, 1900 To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LGEORGE WESTINGHOUSE, of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Draft Appliances for Railroad-Cars, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention more particularly relates to draft appliances which are employed in connection with automatic couplers; and its object is to provide simple, substautial, and inexpensive means by which strains of draft and buffing may be transmitted from a coupler to the spring or other resistance device by which they are taken up andwhich will in operation obviate liability to uncoupling in passing around short curves and relieve strains on the car-body which are encountered in passing curves with appliances of the constructions ordinarily heretofore employed.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a side View, partly in vertical longitudinal central section, of a draft appliance, illustrating an application of my invention; Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the same; Fig. 3, a view, partlyin plan and partly in horizontal longitudinal central section; and Fig. 4., a transverse section at the line w a; of Fig. 3.

In the practice of my invention I provide a coupler-shank or draw-bar 29, the outer end of which carries a coupler-head 30, to which a knuckle 31 is pivoted by avertical knuckle-pin 31 The coupler head, which does not in and of itself constitute part of my present invention, is provided with a suitablelocking mechanism and may be of any suitable and preferred form of what is known as the vertical plane or Master Car-Builders type of automatic coupler. The couplershank is pivotally connected, as presently to be described, to adraft strap or yoke 27, which is adapted to surround and impart strains received by the coupler-head to adraft and buffing apparatus of any known and preferred construction, which in this instance is shown as a spring 32, interposed between front and back follower-plates 26 26, fittedin the draftstrap.

The coupler-shank 29 is reduced in thicknose at and adjacent to its inner or rear end Patent No. 672,114, dated April 16, 1901.

. $e1'ialNo.25,537. (No model.)

and is provided-with lateral tongues 29 ,adapt ed to engage corresponding grooves in the side members of a bifurcated pivot-jaw 29 to the forward or outer portion of which the coupler-shank is secured by rivets 29. The forward end portion of the draft-strap 27 passes through the vertical central recess or passage 29 of the pivot-jaw, which recess is open at the front and closed at the rear end of said pivot-jaw. The portion of the draftstrap which passes through the recess 29 is provided with segmental vertical bearingfaces on its front and rear sides, said bearing faces fitting against correspondinglycurved vertical bearing-faces on the rear end of the coupler-shank 29 and on the body of the pivot-jaw adjacent to the rear end thereof, as shown in Fig. 3. The inner or rear end of the pivot-jaw 29 abuts against the front follower-plate.

In assembling the parts ofthe appliance the front end portion of the draft-strap 27 is slipped into position in the recess 29 of the pivot-jaw 29 and the narrowed rear end portion of the coupler-shank 29 is then inserted in the recess 29, so as to abut against the adjoining bearing-face of the draft-strap and is secured in this position by the rivets 29. Under this construction it will be seen that the front end portion of the draft-strap constitutesa vertical pivot to which the coupler-shank 29 is coupled at its rear end, thus permitting the coupler-head 30 to traverse in a horizontal plane within a properly-limited range .of movement when the car is passing around a curve, and thereby obviating or substantially reducing the tendency to uncouple on curves of short radius, which obtains where the coupler-shank and draft-strap are rigidly connected, and relieving the incidental strains on the car-frame. When the coupler-shank is swung upon its pivot on the draft-strap, the rear end of the pivot-jaw correspondingly moves the front follower-plate 26, against which it abuts, causing it to bear more strongly against the draft and buffing spring 32 on one side than on the other, and said spring as a resultant of such unequal lateral bearing of the follower-plate acts when the car passes from a curve to a tangent to return the coupler-head to and maintain it in normal position-that is to say, with the longitudinal central plane of the couplershank in line with that of the draft-strap and of the car.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of a coupleuhead, a coupler-shank fixed thereto, a bifurcated pivot-jaw secured to the rear end of the coupler-shank, and a draft strap or yoke having segmental bearing-faces fitting correspondingly-curved bearing-faces on the couplershank and pivot-jaw.

2. The combination of a coupler-head, a couplershank fixed thereto, a bifurcated pivot-jaw secured to the rear end of the coupler-shank, a draft strap or yoke having segmental bearing-faces fitting correspondinglycurved bearing-faces on the coupler-shank 

